8740W USB 3.0 Problems

I've had my 8740w for a couple of months now and I'm pretty happy with the upgrade from my old 8710w, but having some issues with the USB 3 ports.

I have a large amount of data (RAW and big PSD files) which I back up and to an external HDD and thought I would take advantage of the USB 3. So I got myself a USB 3 external HDD

The drive is recognised on the left USB 3 port (next to the VGA port) and Window 7 autostarts or the drive is displayed on my Computer, but is acting like a standard USB 2 port as Windows 7 is telling me that I can get higher transfer speeds if I connect it to a USB 3 port.....which it is. The right hand USB 3 port (next to the optical drive) has power, but when the drive is connected to it, it does nothing.

I've reinstalled the Drivers that hasn't worked.

I called Technical Support and got an Indian guy telling me to reinstall the operating system, which I think is a bit extreme and pretty sure it won't work as I have reinstalled the OS after scrapping a linux dual boot install, I did a month a go.

Re: 8740W USB 3.0 Problems

I have the same issue. I just received my iomega eGo Portable Hard Drive. It work as it should in the left USB 2.0 port on my 8740w, but when I connect it to the right side USB 3.0 port the drive appears as a RAW unformatted disk or it wont appear at all. I have tried to connect the drive on another Laptop, 8540p, the same thing happens there. I wonder if this is a problem with the HP Laptops or the USB drive?! Have you been able to solve the problem?

Re: 8740W USB 3.0 Problems

The two SS USB 3.0 ports work fine with USB 2.0 devices. But when I connect a USB 3.0 device it's not recognised by windows, meaning win behaves like it's not connected at all. I can hear the disk spinning up, but it never fully connects. And the led on the disk remains off. Moving it to any of the USB 2.0 ports and it works fine again, exept windows nagging about the speed gain I could get if I moved it to a USB 3.0 port.. Ironic..

So the bottom line is that the USB 3.0 ports of the 8740w onlys works with non-USB 3.0 devices. If you buy SS USB disks, make sure you connect to a USB 2.0 port.

Re: 8740W USB 3.0 Problems

Also having problems with USB 3 on Elitebook 8450W. When trying to use a USB 3 based video capture device I got a "bandwith for device exceeds available bandwith for port" message. I was told by the MFR of the device that HP does NOT fully implement USB 3 on their laptops. They said there is NO known fix for this. If this is true I may be seeking a refund or exchange of this machine as that was my primary reason for it's purchase.

Re: 8740W USB 3.0 Problems

Seems I have come to the right place to vent my frustrations with my new 8740W. Just received my new Samsung S2 USB3 drive with cable, and I'm not able to connect it at USB3 speeds, just defaults back to USB2 speed. Puke.

It looks like other manufacturers have newer driver releases for the NEC controller, anyone know of, or tried any of them?

Re: 8740W USB 3.0 Problems

On my 8540P I can connect to one of the two USB 3.0 ports and get 100MBps with my external SSD vs 200MBps when I connect it to the eSata port.

If I try and connect the USB3 SSD to the other USB3 port it just constantly disconnects and reconnects.

I would recommend using the eSata port. I got a eSata Icy Dock case that is cheap and works good. I really want to be able to do USB3 instead because it only requires one cable, eSata requries to because the eSata cable doesn't transmit power.

What I can tell you is that there is a little diference of the NEC controllers. The EliteBook has a uPD720200 and my desktop has a uPD720200A where the one of my desktop is capable of the full speed where as the one of the EliteBook is not.

There may also be differences based on the chipset so that there is not enough throughput available for the USB 3.0 controller. Also the EliteBook does not have one controller per USB 3.0 Port but only one for both. But it even doesn't make a difference whether you connect one or two devices... its just... unsatifying.